A Matter of Coincidence
by SilentPatronus
Summary: Sometimes the world is a small puzzle waiting to be pieced together.


**Okay so this doesn't really have a proper plot line. It's just what bored me came up with.**

* * *

"Surprise!" Jonny shouted in the middle of Darwin as he brought from behind his back a card that he gifted to Jac. His face was beaming and he looked incredibly pleased with himself.

"Keep your voice down will you." Jac snapped back at him as she snatched the card from his grasp. She glanced down at the card not knowing exactly what she was doing with it nor why Jonny was looking pleased with himself. In fact she thought he looked rather like an idiot. "It's not my birthday." She finally grunted at the man standing in front of her. "Even if it was I've told you I don't like gifts." She added thrusting the card back in his face.

"I know it's not your birthday I just wanted to surprise you that's all." He said rather casually with a gleam in his eyes. "Go on, open it. It's not gonna bite you."

She gave him a glare and protested that he got on with some work and shoved the card into her pocket. From Jonny's point of view at least he'd managed to keep the card in her possession something that he thought would have proved difficult. Stalking off to her office she felt her hand slip into her pocket naturally and she found herself curious as to the contents of it.

Entering her office appeared difficult as locating her desk seemed to be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Books piled the room, papers littered the floor and donuts scattered across the desk. "Elliot what in Gods name has happened to my office?" Jac demanded as she tried to hunt to the professor amongst all the clutter.

"It's still my office too you know Jac. You don't have all the power just yet." Elliot tried to reason as he lifted up another heavy box full of books and added it to the pile that was ever growing.

"Yes for another... 2 hours 33 minutes." Jac said as she stared up at the clock working it out in her head. It took her a good several minutes to venture from one side of the room to the other due to Elliot's disorganised mess. Despite it taking a good few minutes of her precious life and having a desk full of paperwork she offered to help Elliot out after concluding that there was no way Elliot would finish tonight without help. Her work could wait.

In several hours time they were each packing their last box and had achieved more than Elliot could have imagined. Half of the room now looked empty and to Jac this didn't feel right. Although Elliot was sitting in front of her she felt a shadow of loneliness creep over her; a wave of emotion. She'd spent too long working with him.

After the last few boxes were packed and Elliot muttered a goodbye to Jac who was trying her best - and succeeding - at conveying as little emotion as possible. But he knew her too well now and he could tell by her non-existent replies as to whether he'd be missed that she really was going to miss him and for him this was an accomplishment. Jac Naylor cared. He'd managed to find a way into that heart of Jac's. He was her father figure and she wasn't going to leave him behind in a hurry.

* * *

Jac sat at her desk fiddling about with a pen in her hands. She was meant to be finishing off paperwork but she was too distracted in her thoughts to pay attention and chose this moment to open the card given to her by Jonny. She reached into her pocket and felt a sigh of relief that it had managed to remain there with all the rushing about from helping Elliot pack. It was a small envelope, white, and bent from being folded in her pocket for the last couple of hours. She reached for her pot of stationary and withdrew her letter opener. Her eyes fixated on the envelope, as she tore into it careful not to slice her fingers in the process. She wasn't sure what to expect and hoped that it wasn't anything big.

She withdrew the piece of paper from inside the card and stared at it for a moment as she took in the information. It was a leaflet about a spa. 'Great.' She thought to herself. 'Just great.' What could she even do with that? She wasn't sure where he was getting with sending her a card with a leaflet in but as she stared closely she saw a circle round one of the bullet points from a list and that's when she knew what it was.

Almost coincidentally Jonny knocked on her door before entering without waiting for a reply. His bag was shoved over his shoulder and he was changed from his scrubs. He looked better this way, out of his uniform that is. He was more relaxed too and so was she.

Jac held up the card in her right hand. "So you finally got the hint that your massages are about as good as Maureen's ability to keep her mouth shut and Ric's ability to stay married?" There was no thank you. But then again would anyone expect that from Jac?

He shook his head smiling. Well she hadn't shoved it back in his face like he had expected so this was an achievement. If he was honest he'd been slightly worried about her. Six months pregnant and refusing to go on maternity leave being adamant she would work right up until the due date which would have been fine of course if she were to complete light duties. But no. She was insistent upon remaining as normal as possible, which meant full theatre slots. Naturally with the tiredness that came with pregnancy along with the many other symptoms Jac was finding herself stressed out and whilst she wouldn't care to admit it she really did need a way to 'relax'. So instead of throwing a witty comment her way he decided to just change the subject. "You ready to go?"

She half nodded before putting the leaflet back into the envelope and shoved it into the side of her bag. Slowly she grabbed Elliot's notes that he'd left behind for her benefit and a couple of books that he warned he'd want back on his return and added them to her already full bag. During this time Jonny waited patiently by the door refusing to come in and hoping instead she'd hurry up. He couldn't help but smile as he watched her gather up her things and attempt to squash it all into her bag. He was proud of all that she had achieved!

Eventually she gave up and had to carry a couple of books. Jonny did offer to help out but she was having none of it. "I'm pregnant not an invalid Jonny I can carry these books fine." He shook his head hardly surprised that he'd got that reaction and really he shouldn't have insulted her in the first place by offering to help. He knew her well enough by now to know she would not be keen on his idea.

"You're driving because if I catch your feet resting on that bit in front of the windscreen again that's the last time you'll be able to walk." Jac chucked him the keys and he caught them and laughed uneasily at her joke. He hoped it was a joke. She went to put her bag and books in the boot while Jonny got in the car and shoved his bag in the back seat aimlessly. He didn't seem to care that it fell off and onto the floor. Why would he care though? It was Jac's car he was driving. She had refused to sell her motorbike and after his "egg on legs" comment was seemingly less keen to ride her motorbike especially after Jonny got rid of her helmet on her behalf so instead it was back to using her car.

Jonny smiled craftily as Jac opened the door and sat down next to him. "Well go on, get moving I have work I need to be getting on with." Jac complained as she gestured for him to move faster rather than just sit there smiling. She could never understand why he was always so slow to react as if he had all the time in the world. She'd have to do something about that, maybe he wasn't given enough work to do. In fact, she knew he wasn't so she was going to make sure he worked extra hard.

"No." He said finally still sitting there with the keys in his hand. It wasn't obvious what he was playing at and she definitely wasn't in the mood to play any sort of games. Sometimes Jonny had this strange ability to act as if he actually was a child. It could be really stressful sometimes.

"No?" She questioned him.

"You're not doing any work tonight." He argued. Before she could even protest he explained further. "We're not going home just yet. You've got a massage to go to." He placed the key into the ignition and they were ready to go.

"You are joking?"

It was a rhetorical question, one that wasn't worth asking, as she knew he wasn't. "Does this face look likes it's joking?" He looked at her. She couldn't read his expression. Was there a hint of annoyance perhaps? She'd once again managed to turn something nice, sour. He was trying to do a sweet thing for her; trying to help her to relax and she'd chucked it back in his face once again. The rest of the journey continued in silence, neither speaking. Jac, refusing to apologise but neither wanting to plead ignorance to the situation annoy him further. Jonny wanted to concentrate on driving to put it simply.

It wasn't long before they were standing at the reception to Holby Spa waiting patiently for someone to attend to them. Jonny had pressed the bell several times and no one had arrived so Jac had resulted to shouting, "do you plan on making us wait all evening?" before violently shoving her hand on the bell too many times to count. A woman had stressfully rushed over and had immediately grasped that Jac was not someone to be messed with. Jonny gave her a cautioning glance before turning back to the receptionist.

"Hi, I booked a massage for Jacqueline Naylor." The woman checked her computer of information before guiding Jac one way and informing Jonny that there was a café the other if he wished to wait for her and get a drink. He thanked her and proceeded to walk in the direction of a café.

He found himself a seat and ordered a coffee. He expected to be alone but was surprised that there were so many men around seemingly waiting for their other halves to finish whatever they'd been booked in for. In fact, it was so busy – or the café was that small – that after receiving his coffee and settling down to read a newspaper he was interrupted by a man wanting to borrow his seat, which he of course allowed. He felt it rude to ignore the man and began conversation.

"Here for your girlfriend as well?" The man nodded in response, showing the mutual understanding between the two men.

"Wife actually," the man smiled slightly, and placed down the newspaper that was folded up in his hands and chucked it onto the table whilst carefully placing his coffee down. He wiped the table to make sure it was all clean and refused to put his arms down on it. "It gives her a chance to get away from the kids." He added in an attempt to break the awkward silence that was looming over them.

"Ah so you have kids then?" Jonny asked rather interested. As a father-to-be he had to start paying attention to these sorts of conversations, he might learn a thing or to, or just to hear the pleasant stories about children that he one day might get to experience as a father which excited him greatly.

"Yes, two. A boy, Harry, he's three bless him and learning to draw, on walls mind you, and a girl, six months, Charlotte. She loves to scream the house down it's no wonder Jennifer, my wife, felt the need to get away for an hour or two."

Jonny smiled at the way the man talked about his kids, the way his eyes lit up at all the mischievous things they did. He could tell the man was full of wonderful stories, stories he was desperate to hear. "Sounds like a handful if you ask me! And there was me thinking I wanted five!" Jonny joked and they both chuckled a little.

"Don't get put off by that, they're definitely worth all the trouble! You have no kids I take it?"

"Ask me that question in three months time." Jonny smirked. "I'm Jonny by the way," and he stretched out his hand upon realising that there hadn't been any formal introduction.

"Joseph," the man smiled back and shook his hand. "You don't sound local and I'm sure I haven't seen you around before…"

"Originally from Scotland but work brought me to Holby!" Jonny clarified.

"That explains it. I spent a couple of weeks out in Australia before I realised all my family lived back here. Back to working for the good old NHS at St James' for me."

"Classic story, boy leaves home, and they say girls are the soft ones. I can tell you that is definitely not true!"

"No?" Joseph asked Jonny rather curiously obviously requesting further expansion. Although he agreed, he wasn't about to explain his previous complications in life that had been buried in the past and left behind so instead opted for the feigning of little knowledge on that area. Maybe he'd find somebody to relate to.

"If it wasn't for Jac being pregnant I swear I would never have got that woman over here, and by here I mean the spa." Jonny clarified and then realised that the man would have know understanding of who Jac is although he didn't seem dumb so it wouldn't be hard to grasp. "I'm telling you man, that one is tough."

Joseph sat there thinking. That name brought back so many memories to him. "What's it with people and the name Jac?"

"Eh?" Jonny questioned him rather confused.

"An old… acquaintance of mine, very career motivated and took a lot to find who the real her is…. Anyway, we were talking about kids weren't we?" Joseph very obviously tried to change the subject back again showing his unwillingness to talk about the situation and Jonny decided to play along. "Thought of any names?"

"Not really, we haven't actually discussed it yet but I have a few in line."

"That's good, when choosing Charlotte's name we struggled, three weeks she was nameless poor girl."

At this moment Jonny's phone 'pinged' as he received a text message. He withdrew it from his pocket and surprisingly saw that it was from Jac and chuckled as he opened the message until he saw her holding up a glass of wine in one hand and chocolates in another. His face dropped immediately. She couldn't drink, she's pregnant. This was until he read the caption, '_You thought I was going to drink the wine._' By now Joseph was pulling a strange face in reaction to Jonny's photo so Jonny thought it was only fair to show him what he was pulling faces about. Upon seeing Jac's face Joseph leapt up claiming that he could see his wife and he should be off. Jonny at the same time got up, "Jac will be out too in a minute by the looks of things so I'll walk back with you." Joseph had no choice but to accept this.

Jonny walked out first and saw Jac standing there, "you took your time, now you owe me dinner." He smirked at her. Joseph walked by moments after and Jac's glance switched instantly from Jonny to Joseph. "Joseph?"

"Jac." Joseph said rather calmly.

"So you two know each other then?" It took a moment for things to click with Jonny. "Wait this is Joseph Byrne? That Joseph?" His mouth dropped as he realised the situation.

"I would love to stay and chat but I have a family to get back to." Jac said rather rudely towards Joseph. She wasn't sure why, she just wasn't expecting to see him and now he was there she just wanted to escape.

"So I can see, take care Jac." Joseph nodded towards her.

'It's what I do, it's what I've always done."

Jonny shook his head at Jac's response as they began to walk out, "not anymore Jac."


End file.
